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Tuesday, 25 February 2014

The London parkrun venues

Greater London is made up of the 32 London boroughs plus the City of London which is a city and a county in its own right.

There is quite a bit of controversy over what constitutes a London parkrun. Some people say it should be venues that fall within one of the London boroughs while others prefer to use the boundary of the M25 as a guide.

For this page I refer to any venues within the Greater London area as true London venues, while any venues that lie outside Greater London but still within the M25 are labelled as London+.

Whether individual runners wish to define the state of being 'Londone' as being within Greater London or within the M25 is really a personal choice. If in doubt you could always use parkrun's list of Greater London venues.

The pins on the map mark the locations of parkruns within the county. The green pins show the venues I have officially visited while the red pins are venues that I still need to visit. The list below covers 5k events only, not junior parkruns.

Dartford - Central Park, Dartford, Kent (London+)
Course: 1 small lap followed by two large laps (new course as of July 2016)
Underfoot: Tarmac and grass / dirt
Profile: Mostly flat but with a slight incline during the dirt trail section
GPS data: Dartford parkrun (new standard course)
Notes: I am a member of the core volunteer team
Further reading: My 'I wish there was such a thing as Dartford parkrun' blog entry. As this is a venue that I am based at, there are likely to be a lot of blog posts as time goes on - My main course description (route now changed) post may be of interest to any tourists planning a visit. We also have a 'b' course - it is described in the entry for event 24 and there is a course map within the blog for event 31. Other than that, this link will take you to all my Dartford parkrun blog entries.
Video: Dartford parkrun (freedom run) (the original course - not the current course, but quite similar)

Hanworth- Hanworth Air Park, Feltham, West London
Course: Two and a bit laps
Underfoot: Grass and gravelly path, plus a little bit of tarmac
Profile: Flat
Notes: Former grounds of Hanworth Park House and London Air Park
Further reading: My Hanworth parkrun blog post

Harrow- Harrow Recreation Ground, Pinner Road, Harrow, North West London
Course: 3 laps (first lap with additional small loop)
Underfoot: Tarmac
Profile: Gentle rise on each lap
Notes: Nice and friendly with a heated pavilion to use as a base
Further reading: My Harrow parkrun blog post

Hoblingwell - Hoblingwell Wood Recreation Ground, St. Paul's Cray, Orpington, South East London
Course: 2 laps plus some extra loops
Underfoot: Mostly grass, some tarmac and a short dirt path
Profile: Gently undulating
Notes: The course looks complicated but once you've run it once it all makes sense
Further reading: My Hoblingwell parkrun blog post

Kingston - Thames Path, Adj. to The Hawker Centre, Kingston-on-Thames, South West London.

Course: Out and back along the Thames

Underfoot: Riverside paths and tarmac with dirt path loop at far end

Profile: Flat

Notes: It's a really pretty part of the Thames and a nice place to run

Northala Fields - Northala Fields Park, Ealing, West London.
Course: pretty much one big 5k loop (or maybe a lollipop)
Underfoot: mostly tarmac, but some of the paths are a little stony
Profile: flat with the gentlest of inclines just after the 4km point
Notes: The four mounds contain a huge part of England's footballing history
Further reading: My Northala Fields parkrun blog entry

South Norwood - South Norwood Country Park, South Norwood, South East London.
Course: Just over two laps
Underfoot: Gravelly, stony paths (90%) and some grass/dirt/mud (10%)
Profile: generally flat with a short incline
Notes: A fairly hidden country park
Further reading: My South Norwood parkrun blog post

South Oxhey - South Oxhey Playing Fields, Green Lane, Watford (London+)
Course: Three laps
Underfoot: Grass (you can run about 150 metres each lap on tarmac if you choose)
Profile: Long steady incline / decline on each lap
Notes: You can chill out in a hammock post-run
Further reading: My South Oxhey parkrun blog post